Child Support
by scullymulder
Summary: Future fic. The meteor shower in Commencement gets bumped up about nine months. What happens in the mean time? And what happens afterward? Clois.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Child Support  
Author: Mel  
Rated: PG  
Disclaimer: The kids are mine.  
Summary: Future fic. The meteor shower in Commencement gets bumped back about nine months. What happens in the mean time?  
Spoilers: Right now, no clue.

**A/N:** Ok...so this is really random, but this idea has been pestering me for about a week. I know it's not a one-shot (I'm working on one) but it'll only be about, at the max, five short chapters long...or that's how long I intend it to be.

I know all the info is kinda vague, but it's kinda like a story within a story, one which I have a master plan to but don't want to write.

So...if you've got any questions, don't worry about it. So do I...

But, on a more serious note, if you really do have questions, go ahead and ask me. Some I might answer, some I might not. Some just might be answered in later chapters.

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_Spring, 2019_

"Clark Jonathan Kent, get up NOW! You're going to be late for school!" a woman yelled from the first floor of the house.

The young man being yelled at just turned groaned, over in his bed and pulled the bed covers higher on his head.

"Don't wanna go to school," he mumbled.

"Tough," a voice by his door said.

"Chloe, go away."

"Mom is sooo mad at you right now. If you don't get up, she's gonna scalp you or something."

Little sisters. Always exaggerating.

"Chloe, mom wouldn't do that. One, it's against the law, and two, we're all she's got."

He could feel Chloe roll her eyes.

"It's called embellishment, retard. I know she won't scalp you. She'll just probably not let you try out for sports or something."

The covers were off Clark before Chloe had finished her sentence, and he was frantically picking up dirty clothes off the floor and rushing into them.

Chloe's nose crinkled. "Oh, sick. At least put some clean clothes on. Those are the same ones you wore yesterday."

Halfway done with putting his shirt on, Clark paused, considering.

He sniffed the shirt and immediately gagged.

He jerked it off again, before rummaging through his dresser.

He pulled out a faded green shirt and ran past Chloe out his door while jamming his shirt over his head.

"Woah! Slow down, champ!"

Clark looked back over his shoulder at Chloe

"What?"

"You've got ten minutes until the bus comes. At least get your backpack," Chloe said, pointing towards his room again.

He sighed and looked. That was the fourth time this week he had almost forgotten his backpack.

And it was only Thursday.

He ran in his room and as he was grabbing his backpack, he asked, "Is breakfast on the table?"

"It was. Mom probably thought you weren't going to have time to eat this morning because of your late start, so it probably either went in the trash or Rusty ate it."

Clark groaned.

He hadn't eaten breakfast for the past three days because he had gotten up so late. He had practically starved until lunch came. And his mother had no sympathy.

"But...maybe she hasn't tossed it yet. Wouldn't hurt to look, would it?"

Clark gave her one last look before running full speed out into the hall, down the stairs and into the kitchen, skidding to a halt in front of the table.

"Oh, you're up," his mother said. She had a fairly suprised look on her face, as she had clearly not expected it.

"Yeah. Chloe said you might not let me try out for baseball if I didn't get up...so, here I am."

"Huh. Well," she said, pointing to the table, "You've got about five minutes until the bus comes. Eat."

He sat down at the table and started to cram his mouth full.

"Yikes, Clark, smaller bites. Chloe! If you don't get down here, _you're_ going to be late!"

"Mom. I'm right here. No need to shout," she said as she walked down the stairs, backpack slung over her left shoulder.

Clark finished off the last bite of his breakfast and stood up. "Mom, you want me to put these in the sink?"

"Please."

Clark set his plate in the sink and turned to his mother. "Mom?"

"Hmm?"

"Why not Jack?"

His mom sighed. "We're not having this conversation again. You know why."

His sister piped up from across the room. "You guys have that conversation so much my ears hurt every time the subject comes up."

Clark glared at Chloe and turned back to his mother just as he heard the bus stop outside his house.

As he turned to pick up his backpack, he said, "We're talking about it this evening. Since Chloe's spending the night at Sam's, she won't have her ears hurt."

Clark walked to the door and smirked at what he saw. Without turning he addressed his mother. "Hey, mom? Jack's here."

"What?"

"You heard me."

"Did you invite him?"

"No," Clark replied as he walked out the door, dragging his sister behind him as he headed for the school bus.

**To be continued whenever I figure out where I'm going with this...**


	2. Chapter 2

Lois heard a familiar 'Hey' as Clark and Chloe walked out the door.

She sighed. Jack.

She turned to the front door when he knocked and invited him in.

"Hey, Jack."

"Hi Lois. How are you?"

"I'm good. You?"

"Oh, you know…same old, same old."

Actually, she didn't know.

There was an uncomfortable silence that followed. Lois hated it.

"Any particular reason you're here, Jack?"

He suddenly grew nervous, as if he were a boy guilty of a crime that was under scrutiny.

"Uh…yeah, actually, I did come by for a reason."

Lois waited for him to continue for about ten seconds. When he did not, she prompted him. "And…"

"Uh, well…I was wondering if you'd…uh…like to go out and grab a cup of coffee or something."

Lois sighed. "Jack…you know I can't."

"Why? He's not coming back, Lois. You know he's not! It's been fourteen years!"

"He'll come back."

"Oh, come on, Lois! He left you when you were nine months pregnant with twins. What does that _tell_ you? He _left_ you! Probably for some other girl, too! He didn't care about you like I do!" Jack waited for a response, and when he didn't get one, he ask her, "Will you at least give me a chance?"

Lois sighed again. "I'm sorry Jack, but no. He will come back. You never knew him. I did."

"Lois –" Jack began.

"Jack, just…please…leave."

Jack shot Lois a pleading look, one which she ignored. He sighed, defeated, and walked out of her house, slamming the screen door behind him.

Lois turned her back against the door and leaned on the counter, silent tears splatting on the surface.

"Why won't you come home, Clark?"

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	3. Chapter 3

Clark stepped into the yellow farm house, his somewhat of a good mood that had started in the morning completely ruined. He knew his test would be a zero, and one of the people he thought had been a friend had made fun of -- in his eyes -- the few people who actually loved him.

Yeah. Great day.

"Mom?" he called, albeit loudly. His mood wouldn't tolerate it.

No answer.

Clark knew that Chloe would be spending the night at a friends, but he had expected his mom to be home from her journalism classes that she taught at Gotham University.

Apparently not.

He sighed and set down his backpack on the kitchen table before opening the fridgerator and appraising its contents.

He sighed. His mother had forgotten to go grocery shopping again.

He did an about-face and picked up the phone, dialing Domino's number from memory.

After he hung up, he grabbed his book bag off the table and bounded up the stairs before turning into his room.

He dumped the contents of his backpack onto his bed and shuffled through his papers until he came on his math homework.

He had just settled down to finish it when he heard voices from across the hall in his mother's room.

His mouth creased into a frown as he crept to his door, opening it just a crack so the voices drifted to his ears easier.

"I don't know, Bruce. Clark seems a little distant lately. More so than usual. And his dyslexia...Bruce, that's never happened before. EVER. Like, as in medical history."

"It sounds like he's got some psychology and psychological issues going on. And you know how Clark was...special, to say the least. That could have an effect on this. Tell you what, when you guys come over this weekend, I want them to see a psychiatrist."

Why did his mom have the phone on speaker? She never did that.

"One of the ones who knew Clark's...situation?"

"Yeah."

Lois sighed. "All right. But the kids have to understand they we don't think they're abnormal or anything."

"Lois, if we told them that, we'd be lying."

"Their father was abnormal, not them."

It was Bruce's turn to sigh. "Lois, for all we know Clark's genome was the dominant one. Probably was."

"Is, Bruce. He's not dead."

"Lois, we don't know that."

"He's not dead, Bruce."

"Ok, say that he's not. He promised you that he'd come back. It's been fourteen years, Lois. Now, the few months that I knew Clark Kent, I knew he was a good man. Honest and loyal. The only thing that I can figure that's keeping him staying away this long is that he's dead."

"Something's just keeping him away, that's all. He's not dead. I'd know."

"If you say so," Bruce said in a not-so-convinced tone.

"I do say so."

"Ok, Lois. Oh, Chloe's doctors have seen an improvement. One that they didn't see in her mother."

"So that's good?"

"They believe so."

"Believe so?"

"Yeah. Its kinda touch and go. I've got the best and most educated scientists trying to figure out the enigma that is Chloe Sullivan. They don't understand the human brain anymore when they started working with her. If anything, they probably just have more questions that are destined to go un-answered."

Lois sighed. "Yeah, probably. Listen, Bruce, I can't thank you enough for helping take care of what little bit of a family I have left. You mean the world to me."

"Anything for my little sister."

Clark could hear his mother grin.

"Hey, listen, Lois, how about you and the kids come tomorrow morning instead? Let them take a day off from school. It sounds like all the trouble Clark's been having lately that he needs it."

"I dunno, Bruce. I think Clark's been having trouble with school lately. And if he has, he needs all the time at school he can get."

"I'll help him figure out anything he needs, ok? Or is that not it? The dyslexia?"

"I think so.

"Look, it's not gonna make a difference whether he misses a day of school right now, right? The sooner he gets this past him, the sooner his grades will pick up."

There was a pause as if she was considering. Then - "Allright."

"Great! Oh, say, you remember that kid - Dick? The one who's parents were killed by Two-Face?"

"Yeah."

"He's my side-kick. Robin."

Clark's eyes widened. What the hell was he talking about?

"Isn't he a little young?"

"I think so too, but he did an act on the trapeze, which makes him good at all the defense stuff. He also wouldn't leave me alone."

Lois was in the middle of laughing when the doorbell rang.

Clark cringed. He had forgotten about the pizza.

His mother had come to the door, and Clark's eyes widened when he realized she hadn't had the phone on speaker. She had an earpiece in her ear and the phone in her hand.

"Lois, what?"

How had he heard his Uncle's voice that clearly from that far away?

"The doorbell rang. I wasn't expecting visitors."

"Maybe it's just a salesman."

"Mmm. Maybe."

"You gonna go look?"

"Oh shit."

"What?"

"I forgot to go grocery shopping. Clark always orders pizza when I forget to do that. If it's the pizza guy, Clark probably heard."

She cast a glance at Clark's door before starting down the stairs.

"All he would have heard was a one-sided conversation. Nothing to worry about."

"Unless he's becoming more like his father."

Silence.

"Bruce?"

"Maybe you guys should come tonight."

"You read my mind."

"All right little sister. See you in a few."

"Bye."

Clark heard the phone beep off and his mother open the screen door.

"How much?"

"$11.50"

He heard her digging in her pocket for her money. Then - "Here you go."

"Thanks, ma'am."

"Sure. Have a nice afternoon"

"You too."

The pizza guy walked to his car, and got in and drove away before he heard his mother climbing the stairs again.

He hurried back to his head and made it look like he had been doing his homework the whole time.

"Pack while I'm gone. We're leaving for your Uncle's tonight."

"Where are you going?"

"To get Chloe."

His mother turned and closed the door, but he jumped and rushed out of his room just as she was starting to descend the stairs.

"Mom?"

"Not now, Clark. I know you have questions, but not now. They pertain to your sister as well. Wait until we get to you Uncle's. Now go pack."

He sighed and turned back into his room.

Why did he think it was gonna be a long few days?


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Explain to me why I couldn't stay the night at Sam's again, Mom."

"Because we're going to see your Uncle."

"A whole day and a half early?"

"Yeah, now be quiet. I'm focusing on the road."

Chloe scoffed from the backseat where their border collie, Rusty, had her head resting in the girls lap. "You never pay any attention to the road. You're a horrible driver, mom. Face it. So don't use that excuse."

Lois sighed and glanced in her rear view mirror before shifting her eyes back to the road. "This time is different, Chloe. You guys -- "

Lois' cell phone rang, cutting her off. "Clark, hand me my phone?"

He did as he was asked, picking it off the floor by his feet where it had fallen, and placed it in her hand.

She flipped it open, pressed the 'Send' button and answered. "Hello?

"Lois?"

Clark's super freaky special hearing had suddenly decided to eavesdrop again,

"Yeah, Bruce. It's me."

"You're not going to believe what we found."

"What?" Lois asked, her forehead creased and her nose scrunched.

"Clark. We found Clark."

"Where?" Lois' voice had become urgent, almost commanding.

"In northern Idaho. He was just lying on the ground, although my guys did say that there were fresh footprints around him, like people had heard them and then run off. We did find a circular green imprint on his temple that we think is Kryptonite."

"Luthor," Lois said out of the blue.

"Pardon?"

"Clark told me that Lex Luthor had a ring of Kryptonite made when he had this split personality thing going on. Even though Clark turned that one into black Kryptonite, what's to say that he didn't make another one?"

"It's possible. How far away are you? I'm sure you want to see him."

"A couple hours at least."

"I wish you could get here faster."

"Yeah, me too."

"All right, Lois, see you when you get here."

"Ok."

She handed the phone back to her son.

"Dad's there?" Clark asked.

"Hey, what!" his sister asked from the backseat.

"Not now. When we get there."

A clear 'humph' could be heard from both other occupants of the car, but Lois ignored it.

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Lois exited the car and approached her 'brother'.

"Where is he, Bruce?"

"The guest bedroom right next to yours."

Lois muttered a thank you and ran inside the house.

"Chloe?" her uncle asked. "Mind if I take you inside? A doctor wants to look at you."

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Clark Jonathan Kent stared through the door way into the room where the comatose man lay; where his mother sat by the man's bed, running her finger's through the man's hair, anger festering in his chest.

How could his mother love the man that hadn't even stuck around to see his own children born? How could she stay by his bed for hours on end, just staring at his face when he hadn't even had the courtesy to let his mother know he was all right after 14 years?

"Clark," a soft voice sounded from behind him.

"What, Uncle Bruce?" he asked without turning.

"Let's take a walk."

"I'd rather not."

"Tough," Bruce said, taking Clark by the arm and steering him away from the guest room.

Exiting the mansion from the back and entering the garden calmed Clark somewhat. The cramped space of the room his father had lain in had made his suppressed anger fester, leaving Clark to curse his namesake for leaving them.

Bruce led Clark to a relecting pond near the center of the garden, where they shared a companiable silence for a short time while his uncle thought through the conversation he knew Clark needed to have.

Bluntness would have to suffice. His brain just wasn't working at the moment.

"Want to talk about it?"

"No," came the reply.

"Ok, but you're not going to go back into that house to just stare at your father. All that anger you were feeling isn't healthy, Clark."

No reply.

Bruce sighed. "Just what is so wrong with you father, Clark?"

Again, no reply.

Bruce sighed again. "Once you're ready to talk, I'm here."

He turned to leave when an angry voice started to talk.

"I hate my mom for loving him. I hate him for leaving. I hate Chloe for being able to deal with it better than I can. I hate myself for hating my family, even thought the bastard lying in that bed can't be considered family." Clark turned to Bruce, looking his uncle in the eyes, his face desperate. "How can she love him! He left before I was even born! He's been gone for fourteen years! I hate him for abandoning me! Why did he do that? All I've ever wanted was a father! And I could never have that! My mom wouldn't let me! She wouldn't go date other guys because of him! Because she thought he cared enough to come back one day! But when he does, it's in a frickin' coma! Even when he's finally in my life, he's not even aware of it. I hate him for that! I hope he dies in that bed! He'll deserve it."

Tears were trickling down the fourteen year-old's face with his notice of them.

Bruce pulled his nephew to him for a hug, trying to comfort him with the limited emotional experience he had.

"Clark...your father is the best man I've had the privilege to know. He's honest, honorable, and extremely kind. He left not because he wanted to, but because he had to. I can't tell you why. I'm not even sure he knows himself. All I know is that he didn't want to stay gone this long. He had planned to come back and be a father and a husband, but for some reason he didn't. And I can tell you that the only reason he stayed away is because he had to. For your protection. He would have come back to you three at any other circumstance."

Clark's breathing slowed against him and he slowly let the boy step away from his uncle.

"So…he didn't chicken out of raising us? He really loved us?"

"Yeah. And he loved your mother, too."

"But…what could have kept him away so long?"

"I don't know, Clark. I don't know."

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Lois sat by the bed who held the man she had been in love with since almost exactly nine months before the meteor shower; all she could bear to do was look at his face and run her fingers through his hair just like she had done fourteen years ago.

It was the only thing that actually convinced her that he was back in her life.

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Back in the garden, Clark's eyes felt like they were pulled up to a window in the side of the house.

He saw his mother's back, immediately telling him which room it was.

He had just felt a pulling emotion in his chest when his uncle asked him, "Clark?"

"Uncle Bruce…I think he's gonna wake up."

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Clark Joseph Kent woke up to rapidly beeping heart rate monitors and utter blackness.

He ripped off the breather and groped at his eyes until a soft voice startled him. "I can't see. Why can't I see?"

"Clark?"

It didn't take him long to know who it was. He had memorized her heart beat a long time ago, let alone her voice.

"Lois?"

"Oh, God, Clark. Where've you been?"

Clark edged towards the side of the bed that Lois didn't occupy. "I've…been running."

"Clark?"

"Yeah?"

"What are you doing? Do you not love me anymore?" After all these years; after all the time of being so sure of herself, suddenly she sounds like a schoolgirl with a crush.

Clark hesitated on the edge of the bed. "Of course I still love you, Lois."

"Then why are you trying to leave?"

"I don't wanna leave, Lois."

"Then what are you trying to do? Clark, you've just told me you can't see. You have no idea where you are. Let me help you."

"No," Clark said forcefully. "I can't stay. I have to leave right now."

"Why, Clark? Why do you have to leave after being gone fourteen years?"

"Because. They said I'd kill anyone that I loved."

A/N: So I had originally planned to post this with Memory, which is almost half done, but…I decided not to. This story for me is a lot easier to write, and I figured you guys wanted something to read.

Hope you enjoy and don't forget to drop a review!


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

"So what you're telling me is that you feel lonely without your father, even though you think you hate him."

Clark nodded. "Yeah."

"And that you want to be like your father, because you've heard all these wonderful things about him. Yet, you don't want to be like you father, because he deserted your family."

"Yes. Why are you repeating everything I'm saying?"

"That's a child therapist's job, Clark. We have to make sure that we haven't gotten any of your confusions twisted in our own heads. If we did, we might diagnose your treatment wrong."

"So," Clark stated. "Is there anything else you need to ask me?"

"Yes. Just a few more things."

Clark sighed. "Ok. Shoot."

"Have you ever done anything that seemed unordinary to you? I need an honest answer now; otherwise the diagnosis might be wrong."

"Other than the freaky hearing that my mom told you about, you mean? No, nothing."

The shrink nodded his head. "All right, then Clark. We're done."

"Can I see my dad?"

"Not yet, Clark."

"Please, Doctor. I've only seen my dad once in my entire life. Please, let me see him!"

"Clark, I can't let you. He's being examined."

"For what? Is he ok?"

"Clark, he's blind. For him, that shouldn't be possible."

"Why?"

"I can't tell you that, either, Clark. Ask you mother. It's her place."

"But – "

"Lois, we're done," The doctor called.

The office door opened to reveal his mother. "Clark, I need you to wait outside with your sister, all right?"

He sighed and resentfully and passed his mother, letting himself out into the hall, the door closing behind him.

"What's wrong with him, Eric?"

"He's a troubled kid, Lois."

"I know."

"I do have some good news, though. The dyslexia that he supposedly has is not really dyslexia. He has a need to be like his father, yet a need to be unlike him. I'm going to take this as a need to be special, but not in the same way as his namesake. That's the origin of it."

"I don't follow. I mean, I do, with the whole 'special' thing, but how does that bring on the dyslexia?"

"It's a psychological condition. He's literally made himself be abnormal. In his subconscious, I do believe that he knows his of his father's abilities, as does his sister. Chloe, however, is not near as bad with her stuttering.She's got a mother, and Clark doesn't have a father. He has no one to talk with about his problems. Yes, he has you and Bruce, but it's not the same thing. So, his effort to be closer to his father was the dyslexia. Chloe's effort was the stuttering. Not nearly as bad, again, because she had you to talk to and relate to."

"But there are cases around the world where parents leave their families. Why my kids? Is it because they're Kryptonian?"

"I believe so. The make up of the Kryptonian body flourishes under a yellow sun, which makes the body more powerful, so it stands to reason that the mind does as well."

"So if Clark gets to know his father better, will the problem go away?"

"I don't know. He feels estranged from his father, not to mention angry with him. And I can't tell you whether Clark will ever get over it. He may have already gotten over it, or it may happen next week. Maybe next month, or next year, or it may never happen. That's entirely up to him."

"What about Chloe?"

"Chloe just has the need to be close to her father. That's why she stutters occasionally. That will go away when she feels like she's got her dad back. She's not angry at him, like Clark is, but subconsciously she knows that about her father's abilities just like her brother, and has made herself 'special' just like her brother has."

"Thanks Eric."

"No, problem, Lois. Next time something like that comes up, you bring the kids to one of Bruce's doctors, not some guy in Smallville. Okay?"

Lois laughed. "Okay, Eric. Thanks again."

"It's my pleasure, Lois."

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"Clark, I need to know what happened." 

The man on the examining table sighed. "I got a stone from Lana and one from Lex's mansion and united them.There was a lot of blinding light and it took me to a place a _ton_ of snow - the Artic, I think **-** and the stone started to shinein my hand, so I just threw it. I had no clue what I was doing, but it seemed to make sense. When the stone touched the snow, a crater appeared and a big ice castle looking thing appeared from the snow. I was young, and my naiveativity took over, so I went inside. The second I stepped inside the door, an onslaught of information hit me. I woke up a few hours later on a table, being peered at by robots. I tried to leave, but something called 'The Eradicator' stopped me. It told me that if I went outside of the Fortress that I'd die. It said that its programming was to preserve all Kryptonian life, and it knew what was best for me.

"So one day after about a week of trying to escape, I just pulled the circuits out of it. It told me as it was 'dying', and that – and I quote – "Instead of me, Kal-El, you will be the one to kill those that you love". So I stayed away from you, Lois, my children, Chloe, and my parents. All the ones that meant the entire world to me."

"Clark, you're not Kal-El."

"But I could become him. You know that."

"Clark, even as Kal-El, you won't kill anybody. The only difference between you and him is that Kal-El is a Clark Kent that has accepted his Kryptonain destiny."

"But I'd do anything to follow it."

"I don't think you'd kill people. You still hold the same morals."

"Bruce, I shoved my own mother to the ground."

"No, when you accept your Kryptonain destiny, that means you accept your birth parents as well. Martha wasn't your mother. She was a stranger."

Clark nodded grudgingly.

"Okay, so, what about the mark on your temple?" Bruce asked.

"I was in Idaho, wandering around. Team Luthor must have been tracking me, because before I knew it, I had collapsed. They must have kept the Kryptonite far enough away, because I was like that for a half hour - until Lex showed up. He punched me here," Clark ran his hand over the green oval shaped area, "and I blacked out. The next thing I know, I'm here."

"Blind, and without powers," Bruce added.

"Yeah."

"Doctor," Bruce called from behind him. "See if you can find out what's wrong with him, all right? I need to talk to Lois."

"Sure thing, Mr. Wayne."

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"That's it?" Lois asked.

"Yeah," Bruce responded. "Just problems from his past that he didn't want resurfacing in the first place."

Lois sighed. "Thanks, Bruce. When will he be finished with his exam?"

"He should be done right…about…now." Bruce said as the examination room door opened and the doctor came out.

Lois turned to Chloe and Clark. "You want to see him?"

Chloe stood up eagerly, while Clark followed suit albeit reluctantly.

"We can see him Mom? Now?" her daughter asked.

"Yeah," she told her.

Without another word, Chloe walked towards the door of the room that her fatherwas in.

"Dad?" she asked hesitantly as she breached the room's boundaries.

"Chloe?" he questioned, the side of his head turned toward the door, his blank eyes' gaze thrown towards the corner of the room.

"Yeah," she said awkwardly.

"I'm sorry I've been gone so long, Chloe. I didn't want to miss this much."

"Oh, Daddy," Chloe said as she flung herself towards him, wrapping herself around his broad frame. "I've missed you so much."

His arms hesitantly wrapped around her waist, returning her hug. "I've missed you too. So much. I won't leave again, I promise."

"Never ever again?" she asked, her fourteen years sounding like three.

"Never again," he said, hugging her tighter.

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**A/N:** Well, I liked that chapter…for once. Anyway, I hope some of your questions were answered and some of you answers were questioned. Remember, reviews are what gets you your chapter faster. ;) Oh, and early Merry Christmas!


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